Walter P. Story Building, also known as the New Story Building, is a historic eleven story high-rise located at 610 S.

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

and 236 W. 6th Street in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

History

Walter P. Story Building was designed by Morgan & Walls for Walter Perry Story, on land bought from

James Boon Lankershim James Boon Lankershim (March 24, 1850 – October 16, 1931) was an American heir, landowner and real estate developer. Early life James Boon Lankershim was born on March 24, 1850, in Charleston, Missouri. His father was Isaac Lankershim, a Germ ...

by Story's father for $48,000 in 1894 . Built in 1909, the building was one of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

's first skyscrapers and upon completion was home to a Mullen and Bluett department store in its basement and bottom three stories. A

pied-à-terre A ''pied-à-terre'' (, plural: ''pieds-à-terre''; French for "foot on the ground") is a small living unit, e.g., apartment or condominium, often located in a large city and not used as an individual's primary residence. The term implies use ...

for Story and his wife was included on the top story, complete with gardens and servants’ quarters. Walter P. Story Building opened in February 1910 and was entirely occupied within two months, making it "one of the most successful buildings in the city" at the time. The building's garage entrance, added in 1934, was designed by

Stiles Clements Stiles Oliver Clements (March 2, 1883 – January 15, 1966) was an architect practicing in Los Angeles and Southern California. History Clements trained at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He w ...

. Upon Story's death in 1957, the building was sold at auction. It was purchased by Fisher-Cooper Realty for $1.5 million , after which they renovated and renamed it New Story Building. Mullen and Bluett moved out in the 1960s. In 1979, the

Broadway Theater and Commercial District The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch ...

was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, with Walter P. Story Building listed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the district. In 1980, the building was converted to jewelry industry use, with the building's ground floor was later converted to jewelry booths.

Architecture and design

Walter P. Story Building is 150 feet tall and rectangular in plan, with a 120-foot frontage on Broadway and 160 feet on 6th Street. It was built using

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

with a

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

facade, and features

Beaux Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and B ...

with heavy

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, decorative bands, and arched windows. The building's

parking garage A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

features Zigzag Moderne gates and an entrance that has been called "a high point of the Moderne in Los Angeles." All interior corridors feature

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

floors and

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity t ...

to the height of the doors. The lobby also features a compact marble staircase, wide banisters, two-story

newel post A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar around which a helical staircase winds. It can also refer to an upright post that supports or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post"). ...

s, and a Tiffany-style

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

. Upon opening, the building's ground floor contained the largest

plate glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is ...

windows west of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The building contained twelve of these windows, at a total cost of $12,000 .

References

{{LABTCD Commercial buildings completed in 1909 Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Historic district contributing properties in California 1900s architecture in the United States Broadway (Los Angeles)

History

Architecture and design

See also

References